Rufus Thompson (R.T.) Buell (1827-1905) was born in Vermont. In 1853 Buell joined the California Gold Rush, but by 1857 was dairy farming in Marin County, and in 1865, Monterey County. In 1866, R.T. Buell and his brother, Alonzo Wilcox Buell, bought a quarter of Rancho San Carlos de Jonata from Joaquín Carrillo and José M. Covarrubias. By 1872 R.T had bought the entire Rancho, and dissolved the partnership with his brother Alonzo. A severe drought forced Buell to sell 11,000 acres (45 km2) of the rancho in the 1870s.

This property was sold in 1911 to the Danish American Company to establish a Danish colony called "Solvang". The remaining rancho was partitioned among his seven heirs upon his death in 1915.